For the first time in a quarter century, I brought the perfect book back to this secret cabin on the Pigeon River. The choice of reads, being such a weighty decision, always stymies me. The journey back to this cabin demands serious effort and unwavering commitment, requiring 4-8 hours journey through 4-5 feet of snow, … More Our 2,000 year old Little Library, a great read, and an epic adventure.
An automated children’s allowance, funded through the Bank of Dad, and brought to fruition through recent advances in technology, has permanently solved a conundrum I’ve kicked around for years. We’ll tweak things along the way, but the basic system is now fixed for our remaining half-decade of parenting minor children. No more flailing around or … More Allowances can be Financial Dynamite for your family. FamZoo will help you get there.
Being the only child of a broken home is the gift that keeps on giving. Nearly every day, since about the age of seven, has found me fretting about how thee heck both of my parents will navigate retirement after a lifetime of insufficient financial planning, chronic indebtedness, and singleness for as far as the … More Radical Finances for the Self-Employed Household
Accounting use to be a major chore. Last summer, in the midst of 80-100 hour workweeks focused on building my farm into a workable business, I neglected this task for about 75 days. I logged in to my accounting thingy, and was nearly swept away by the deluge of transactions that had automatically fed into … More Ditch the screen. Old fashioned, minimalist accounting by pencil and paper for your small business.
My life and work—I’m not quite sure where one begins and the other ends—is interesting and fulfilling in the aggregate, but many (ok, definitely most) tasks are monotonous and repetitive. Perhaps you can relate. Hours are spent weeding, processing greens, washing trays, sanitizing those same trays, sifting dirt, planting 30,000 individual pea seeds each week, … More Listen to my audiobook for free!
In addition to pumping out microgreens, the heart of the business, I’m on a mission to produce the very best salad mix in Duluth and the surrounding area. I have every advantage. Being close to Lake Superior, temperatures generally remain moderate in summer. Also, my farm (more of a market garden really) is so small … More Mine is smaller than yours
Like a crop overwhelmed by great swarms of locusts, our joy can be sapped by tremendous crowds of people. This is especially the case after driving roughly 3,333 miles (nearly half our usual annual total!) in search of spring, peace, tranquility, family time, and r&r. Sometimes, however, the frustration and dissonance brought on by the … More Crowds can be a good thing, and traveling screen-free with kids
I was handed the $10 bill for a past bulk delivery of microgreens. What a surprise! I excitedly told my friend that Alexander would be joining our family on a cross-country trek through the Smoky Mountains. Perhaps he’d make it all the way down to the ocean with us! Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. … More Household economy stabilizing through family businesses
A heart attack throws a monkey wrench into the morass of gearworks linking tasks, business, and agendas, within a busy life. It all spins along in some semblance of efficiency—messy as it is—interconnected with other busy lives. Without warning, everything grinds to a halt. And, you wait. What once seemed vital—tumbled over obsessively in the … More All I want for Christmas….
The hard work of life will never be split perfectly down the middle 50/50 between two willing partners. Ever. The sooner you come to realize that, you’ll be happier, and your partnerships across all areas of life will be healthier. In any partnership—business, marriage, friendship—the workload shouldered by each individual is always fluctuating, never static. … More The key to successful partnering. And, how did the chickens go?
